Horse cull??? Thoughts

Its a hard decision for them but in a way i think it may be right.

There are so many unwanted horses and they are suffering, maybe putting them down humainly would stop so many suffering.
 
Why doesn't anyone on the mainland want them? It specifies lots of sport and TB horses, is the cost of transporting them to the mainland prohibitive (sorry, asking in genuine ignorance here). Why don't they say the horses are for free adoption assuming the adoptee gets a passport sorted within a few months of adoption?
 
blucanoo1990 said:
Its a hard decision for them but in a way i think it may be right.

There are so many unwanted horses and they are suffering, maybe putting them down humainly would stop so many suffering.
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Agree with this totally. There simply isn't the money, space, homes available. Kinder to do something you don't want to and keep them "safe" than to allow the situation to get worse.

Heartbreaking but a sad fact of life.
 
I completely agree, there are so so many horses in Ireland now, and no way of providing them with a secure future. Dealers are importing the best thats there but there is so much breeding going on, with things that should not be breed, the not so useful horses are just be abandoned.

This is incredibly sad its got to this stage but far far better off like this than being left to starve as has been seen over the last year. I wouldn't wish what some horses had have had to go through on my worst enemy.
 
Saddly it probably is the right thing, as the recession gets to grips these people can't afford to look after their horses and just abandoning them to their fate with winter on its way is so cruel. With all the will in the world there just aren't enough people who can afford to take these horses on. Add the hay shortages bumping up prices we are going to see more problems in the UK generally.
 
A one-off free gelding (and perhaps more controls on horse breeding?) would help as well and be easier to stomach. But sadly something may need to be done sooner than that would take effect. I'd rather any horse was PTS humanely than left to starve. Anything involving mass transport to slaughter houses though I'd have severe reservations about. Plus I'm not keen on the more economic methods (shooting) of PTS.
 
Tickles-Gelding is much more expensive and doesn't work for mares obv.
The 'more economical method' of shooting will actually be much kinder on these horses, many ofwhom will be young/middle aged and possibly not much handled. The 'injection' can take longer/be fought by healthy young horses and tehyw ill not appreciate being stuck with needles so a quick gun to the head is much kinder.
I think it is tbh a reasonable idea. Bring unwanted animals to be culled humanely, no questions asked. For a limited period of time only.
 
Cuffey thats fine for responsible breeders but as the piece in HoHo outlines, attitudes towards horses in Ireland differ greatly to attitudes here and horses are treated very much as objects and commodities hence many seriously injured animals just being left to die with no medical intervention.

In all honesty breeding needs to be incredibly tightened up in Ireland (and here in UK) and the first step is to cull anything thats substandard or unwanted.

Horses are now bought and sold for literally a few quid or given away so until the quality animal is the only thing available at a healthy cost (ie thousands rather than pennies) there will always be problems.

Theres a glut and it cant be taken up here on the mainland. Theres only one option as far as I can see....cull.
 
Hold on there Spiral-there are some attitudes that are very different and yes, the general attitude is less 'fluffy' (no bad thing imo) but it is not an everyday occurance that every yard will leave injured horses to suffer, I appreciate you probably don't mean that but just to make others aware.
 
I know this might be a hard decision for a lot of people to agree with but I must say as, I hope, a responsible horse owner that I do agree with this step as there are far too many horses suffering or which will certainly suffer over the winter. The only problem will be if not enoiugh is done after to stop this happening again, and again,..
 
spaniel said:
Cuffey thats fine for responsible breeders but as the piece in HoHo outlines, attitudes towards horses in Ireland differ greatly to attitudes here and horses are treated very much as objects and commodities hence many seriously injured animals just being left to die with no medical intervention.QUOTE]

I think you mean there are less namby-pamby owners over there than there are here - probably because the people in the country have a closer link to agriculture than most horse owners over here.

They are better off being shot than left to starve.
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How awfully sad :(

But yes, I do agree that a one off cull would be the best option in this scenario. And I think that shooting is probably the kindest way for most, as well as being the most economical.
 
Maletto said:
How awfully sad :(

But yes, I do agree that a one off cull would be the best option in this scenario. And I think that shooting is probably the kindest way for most, as well as being the most economical.
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But it wouldn't be a one off cull - this is Ireland - nothing will change, so what happens next year and the year after - more culls as the precedent is set ?

There is no real easy instant answer. In welfare, last winter was a total nightmare. Certainly a cull will avoid a repition this year but the over breeding will continue relentlessly, as everyone tries to produce 'the one' that is going to make their name and stuff the off casts on the way.

I have seen some really cracking stuff in rescue in the last few months here, ludicrous.
 
Given how out of control things are I think its necessary on this occasion but they need to put measures in place to ensure this indiscriminate breeding doesn't happen again. Its very sad.

As an aside it was ironic that Graham Fletcher in his column was slating Monty Roberts about being egotistical and the Irish love their horse more than anyone and over the page we had the Irish Welfare lady saying the Irish don't think of their horses as 'pets'. they're commodities with a job to do. Easily disposed of hence the problems.
 
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